Jed Hoyer repeats familiar Cubs pitching message before revealing one important change

In what has become a dreadful trend for Jed Hoyer, he met with reporters after an unceremonious end to the Chicago Cubs' season. The Cubs were swept out of the playoffs by the San Diego Padres and while the offense only scored one run across those two games, the expectation entering the offseason is that the team would be focused on pitching this offseason.

It's not exactly anything Hoyer hasn't said before. The Cubs have been tasked with overhauling their pitching staff over the past several years, and this offseason will be no different. All of the starting pitchers the Cubs had in their rotation at the end of the regular season will be free agents, and a bulk of the arms in the bullpen will also be departing.

Along those lines, it shouldn't be a surprise that Hoyer revealed the overall quality of the team's pitching needs to improve this offseason. It's essentially the same thing that Hoyer has said multiple times over the past five years, but in his reveal, he was honest about one aspect of the Cubs' roster construction.

Jed Hoyer sounds painfully familiar on Cubs pitching woes until one notable admission

In talking about what went wrong with the Cubs' pitching this past season, Hoyer alluded to the idea of there being an over-reliance on the team's defense. The Cubs had the best defense in baseball this season, but as Hoyer mentioned, the team can't catch balls hit over the fence.

As a team, the Cubs gave up 231 home runs this year. Only The Athletics gave up more with a mark of 247.

Hoyer wouldn't go into specific details about the plan for the Cubs as they embark on a shift to their approach of targeting pitching this offseason, but the hope is that the change includes an emphasis on velocity and swing-and-miss.

It's become a painful trend for the Cubs to target pitchers who thrive on generating weak contact, and while there are some success stories in that approach, it also opens a large door toward regression. When that pitcher isn't generating weak contact, or missing bats, that often places them in an awkward position. As was the case with Clay Holmes, who became ineffective for the Cubs toward the final weeks of the season and wasn't used in the playoffs.

Perhaps, this the offseason for the Cubs to do what they weren't willing to do last winter. The Cubs were believed to be in the mix for Dylan Cease last offseason until the bidding surpassed $200 million. There may not be such a starting pitcher available this offseason, outside of Tarik Skubal, but if nothing else, Hoyer's comments prove it's time for the team to step outside their comfort zone.

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